fucking-amal.com

hi,
I saw FA on arte about more than two weeks ago and I got infected with the "virus" as many other people on this forum...feels good to know.
I always had a bad opionion about the artistic medium "movie". Whenever I saw one in a cinema (most of the time in the course of school) I was diappointed afterwards and far away from "emotionally touched" on the contrary to some books, paintings or music I enjonyed by now. So it's not surprising that I hardly watch TV expect when I'm ill or really lazy, which was the case on that evening two weeks ago. So to speak, FA is not only my "favourite" film now, it's in fact the "only" film that made it to my heart. Since I've seen it, I know that a movie can be beautiful, it can be breathtaking, it can be far more than only 90min of entertainment, it can change somebody's life - but a dreamteam like Moodysson, Dahlström and Liljeberg is required to do so. This film is unique.
Other people wrote 30 pages (btw fantastic work kant) about why it's so great, now I just want to write one sentence, which of course doesn't contain the "truth" as well: I addict to that movie, beacause it's so down to earth, cruel and biting on one hand but on the other hand sublime, smooth, warm and above all positive (I wanted to write "lebensbejahend" in german but leo.org found no other translation, word by word it means "saying yes to life") on the other hand that you can't deprive yourself of the story if you're self-reflected about your own life.

So far some short outlines of my view on FA. Now, to push the discussion here a bit, a concrete question:
What do you think about Agnes acting and in particular her final laughter in the last scene?
I will post my thoughts as well later.

greets eiger

eiger wrote:FA is not only my "favourite" film now, it's in fact the "only" film that made it to my heart. Since I've seen it, I know that a movie can be beautiful, it can be breathtaking, it can be far more than only 90min of entertainment, it can change somebody's life

Welcome eiger. So beautiful that Fucking Åmål has made you change your mind about movies. Yes, it is unique in its way, but if you just keep searching for the right kind of film, you'll be pleasantly surprised how many of this kind there are...

"lebensbejahend" in german but leo.org found no other translation, word by word it means "saying yes to life"

Yeah... good word. I'd try "life-embracing", but I don't know if that is a proper English word.

What do you think about Agnes acting and in particular her final laughter in the last scene?

Good one! I tell you what I think: I think her (Rebecka's) laughter is completely real and unstaged, and that at least two times she is just about to fall out of character. I take this from the funny way she sometimes looks in an unexpected direction to the right, where I suppose Lukas Moodysson was standing, as if she expected him to say "Cut!" and reshoot because she was laughing to much. From her facial expression, I get the impression that in these seconds she has already stopped "acting", but then, as nothing happens and Alexandra keeps going, she just plays along. I have no confirmation for this impression of mine. But I think it's part of the energy and power of that iconic scene. It makes the scene come alive so much - this one, for sure, is (as you said) down-to-earth, and real-life.

Aww, I love the laugh too. It's the first time we see her laugh in the entire movie. She just looks... HAPPY.

I agree, by the way. I think SML is the only movie that has really reached my heart. It's difficult for something as brief as a 90 minute one-off movie to do that, really.... yet this manages it anyway.

eiger wrote:What do you think about Agnes acting and in particular her final laughter in the last scene?

She have said that she was supposed to laugh, but the laugh is real.

kant1781 wrote:

"lebensbejahend" in german but leo.org found no other translation, word by word it means "saying yes to life"

Yeah... good word. I'd try "life-embracing", but I don't know if that is a proper English word.

We usually say "life-affirming".

What do you think about Agnes acting and in particular her final laughter in the last scene?

I think her (Rebecka's) laughter is completely real and unstaged, and that at least two times she is just about to fall out of character. I take this from the funny way she sometimes looks in an unexpected direction to the right, where I suppose Lukas Moodysson was standing, as if she expected him to say "Cut!" and reshoot because she was laughing to much. From her facial expression, I get the impression that in these seconds she has already stopped "acting", but then, as nothing happens and Alexandra keeps going, she just plays along. I have no confirmation for this impression of mine. But I think it's part of the energy and power of that iconic scene. It makes the scene come alive so much - this one, for sure, is (as you said) down-to-earth, and real-life.

At first I wasn't so sure about that ending rather than the original. We're conditioned to like that walking off into the sunset kind of thing, but after watching it again I think it shows a much more realistic conclusion. They've struggled so much to be together but have really only spent a part of one night getting to know each other. We know they have strong feelings, but at first it's natural that they would be awkward and shy. Agnes drinks her chocolate milk too quickly and doesn't really know what to do with herself, Elin rambles on about how she used to make it and eventually Agnes laughs, breaking the tension and they can go on. It gives us hope that there's some foundation that they can build on other than just attraction, because at the end of the film we've grown to care about the characters and what happens to them. As improbable as it seems given their ages, we're hoping for that happy ending.

Now how much is staged or planned we don't know but I suspect like Kant that at least some of it was just things going right. If Rebecka is looking off to the right because that's where Moodysson is, or whether Agnes is too shy to look at Elin, or feels that if she confronts too directly what surely must seem like a dream come true it might vanish, or... does it matter? Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

NOSSYDOOM wrote:She have said that she was supposed to laugh, but the laugh is real.

Where did she say that, nossydoom? Maybe I read it there and forgot about it.

kant1781 wrote:

NOSSYDOOM wrote:She have said that she was supposed to laugh, but the laugh is real.

Where did she say that, nossydoom? Maybe I read it there and forgot about it.

On "aftonbladet chaten"
Back in 98, chating online with people, she was asked the question if she is supposed to laugh in the scene.
You can read it here, but it's all in Swedish
http://hem.passagen.se/jaymz81/Fucking/index1.htm

Here it is:
Red: Shaker säger: I Oboy-scenen är det meningen att du ska skratta då eller är det utanför manus?
Rebecca_Liljeberg_: det är meningen..men jag skarattar på riktigt..

mpox wrote:We usually say "life-affirming".

Yes, thank you! That's it.

If Rebecka is looking off to the right because that's where Moodysson is, or whether Agnes is too shy to look at Elin, or feels that if she confronts too directly what surely must seem like a dream come true it might vanish, or... does it matter? Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

True!

NOSSYDOOM wrote:On "aftonbladet chaten"
Back in 98, chating online with people, she was asked the question if she is supposed to laugh in the scene.
You can read it here, but it's all in Swedish
http://hem.passagen.se/jaymz81/Fucking/index1.htm

Now I remember! Thanks!
There's an English translation (incomplete, and not very good, but okay for basic understanding) here:
http://fucking-amal.droopy.sk/subpages/text/chat%20Rebecka.htm

Hi,
thanks for your responses. First I must say that i regularly go mad on watching the scene; I'll try to tell you...
I agree with mpox that their shy acting is quite realistic regarding the plot. I also think kant's theory about Rebecka's looks to the right is possible. Probably everyone here can confirm that he "loves" the laughter (so do I) or at least feels good with it because there's something special about it. Now I want to leave the level of observation and boost this f****** down-to-earth scene sky-high by comparing it with elements from Hermann Hesse's "Siddhartha". I hope there's someone here who has read this marvelous book and can follow my bad phrasing anyway. For all the others: Raed it(!), but maybe you can get something out of my lines nevertheless (the wikipedia artcle isn't that bad as well).
So now: Warning, most likely, this has nothing to do with Moodysson's intention of the scene and is pure crap. Otherwise, you can read it under this motto, written by a big FA-fan : "One of the beautiful things about art is that there is more inside it than even its authors have any idea of".

Since I have read the book, I'm hooked on the character of Vasudeva, the ferryman. He has a magical aura. In particular, I'm always deeply moved the way he leaves Siddhartha as an enlightened man, with a lucent smile (it would be helpfull to have an english translation, but I do my very best not to distort the meanings). For me, this expression of an old man described beautifully by Hesse and Agnes laughter in the very last moment of the film acted by Liljeberg and masterminded by Moodysson go hand in hand. They spread the same spirit of humanity, freedom, happieness and life-affirmation (thx mpox) that this world lacks of nowadays. They have the same power. After the first time I've seen it, I was unsure, what it was, but already then I was caught by the laughter, as if it wants to say something without words. And then, at the second time, I suddenly felt the parallels between these two masterpieces which have completely nothing in common regarding the action.

Well, it took me quite a while to write this, so I have to stop now although I've got many other ideas beside this main point, which isn't acted out completely. I'm looking forward to your comments and hopefully someone wants to join me drifting deeper in the matter...

greets eiger

eiger wrote:Hi,
thanks for your responses. First I must say that i regularly go mad on watching the scene; I'll try to tell you...
I agree with mpox that their shy acting is quite realistic regarding the plot. I also think kant's theory about Rebecka's looks to the right is possible. Probably everyone here can confirm that he "loves" the laughter (so do I) or at least feels good with it because there's something special about it. Now I want to leave the level of observation and boost this f****** down-to-earth scene sky-high by comparing it with elements from Hermann Hesse's "Siddhartha". I hope there's someone here who has read this marvelous book and can follow my bad phrasing anyway. For all the others: Raed it(!), but maybe you can get something out of my lines nevertheless (the wikipedia artcle isn't that bad as well).
So now: Warning, most likely, this has nothing to do with Moodysson's intention of the scene and is pure crap. Otherwise, you can read it under this motto, written by a big FA-fan : "One of the beautiful things about art is that there is more inside it than even its authors have any idea of".

Since I have read the book, I'm hooked on the character of Vasudeva, the ferryman. He has a magical aura. In particular, I'm always deeply moved the way he leaves Siddhartha as an enlightened man, with a lucent smile (it would be helpfull to have an english translation, but I do my very best not to distort the meanings). For me, this expression of an old man described beautifully by Hesse and Agnes laughter in the very last moment of the film acted by Liljeberg and masterminded by Moodysson go hand in hand. They spread the same spirit of humanity, freedom, happieness and life-affirmation (thx mpox) that this world lacks of nowadays. They have the same power. After the first time I've seen it, I was unsure, what it was, but already then I was caught by the laughter, as if it wants to say something without words. And then, at the second time, I suddenly felt the parallels between these two masterpieces which have completely nothing in common regarding the action.

Well, it took me quite a while to write this, so I have to stop now although I've got many other ideas beside this main point, which isn't acted out completely. I'm looking forward to your comments and hopefully someone wants to join me drifting deeper in the matter...

greets eiger

Taht's funny you're talking about H.Hesse, because in the first part of "FA", Agnes makes me remember about another hero of H. Hesse: "Steppenwolf"...
Lobabu

Come on Lobabu, tell us more

Very probably it is impossible to write a book or make a film about that particular time of your life when you're seventeen, and the strange, over-emotionalized and often confusing view of the world it brings, without repeating something that Hesse wrote, be it Steppenwolf or Siddharta or Demian. That 's why he's the perfect author to read when you're seventeen (and why many people start to find him awkward when they turn thirty).

They spread the same spirit of humanity, freedom, happieness and life-affirmation (thx mpox) that this world lacks of nowadays.

That's a beautiful idea which I really like, even though I'm not so sure whether the comparison is valid. After all, Vasudeva, just like the Gautama, laughs because he has seen through the illusions of the world, like a Buddhist holy man should, and has stripped off all his worldly desire, for to desire is to suffer - as Agnes well knows. But Agnes laughs because she has fought and won exactly what she desired, her desire is alive, and has turned into that fountain of bliss and chocolate milk. And, to be honest, I'd rather be Agnes than Vasudeva .

eiger wrote:Come on Lobabu, tell us more

Ok, I try to do it short. First, I admit I read H.Hesse a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away...). She makes me remember Harry "I can't remember the name", because, in the beginning of the novel, he's discribed as a man living by reflexion, logical and intellect to control his life, without living it as it is. Agnes doesn't live like the others boys and girls. She wants to control everything: her emotion, her love feeling, to get a protection against outside. (exemple: when she's writing her diary in the first scene, she's very calm, even the principal subject of it is her "chagrin d'amour"). Even in the way she clothes, she try to get a protection. So, it's impossible to her to live in the real life as Harry. Of course, there's some difference: she kills nobody (perhaps Camilla, if she would can...), she's more sympathic than him (and certainly more pretty). But, maybe I'm completely wrong...
Lobabu

Very interesting post! Absolutely loved the Saying Yes to Life / Life Affirming! Such a powerful idea, guys.
I really liked to read your opinion cause i´ve been wondering about that myself… and I must agree that probably there´s a little bit of rebecca´s own reaction to the hole funny talk. But i just can´t see her looking to the right
But on the other hand I suppose we find that smile so “intriguing” because it´s the first time we actually SEE her laughing and it is so happy, genuine and wide open to the world! Omg!!

Don´t know…I can be completely wrong about this – and if I am, somebody says smthing – but Agnes is the kind of person who tries to hold back what she really feels mostly to Elin, of course. Scenes that can be quoted:
1- We see her happy and dreamer face while she waits for elin come out of toilet then she talks about the music as if the fact that elin is really there with her was something very normal... But we know her: we can tell by looking at those eyes that she´s exploding of joy inside!
2- During their talk in the bridge, Agnes begins to be more relaxed and when elin asks if she´s pretty enough to be a model, agnes doesn´t even think she answers quickly: Yes! - But just as fast she holds back helself: “you are.” – like it was so random… kkkkk
I´m able to clearly point the exactly moment when she stops to contain herself and it´s when she says that she has never been with any girl.

Anyway, I think that what amazes me about that cutest smile is because it´s strange, unfamiliar and it´s almost like it doesn´t belong to her. It feels so life embracing to see this beautiful something new!